8th page, Joong-Ang Daily, Jun. 23, 2007
“Two days from today is the anniversary of the Korean War… The number of abductees amounts to 126,325”


Diplomatic paper written by the US Ambassador Muccio is found
Number of abductees exceeds the known 82,959


A diplomatic paper stating that the ROK government recorded the number of Korean War abductees as 126,325 during the Korean War has been found.

Lee Mi-il, President of the Korean War Abductees’ Family Union (KWAFU), said, “We found a document by then US Ambassador to Korea, John Musccio, sent to the headquarters of the UN Forces, and it states that the number of the wartime abductees amounts to 126,325 based on a document of the Ministry of Home Affairs released on January 4, 1952.”

The statistical yearbook of Korea, published in 1952, states that the number of the Korean War abductees is 82,959 and this figure has been used as of today.

According to the document written by Ambassador Muccio, the head of the Office of Public Information let Ambassador Muccio know that he had recently found a list of people abducted from all parts of South Korea written by the Ministry of Home Affairs of Korea.

The document also states that the list of 126,325 abductees contains specific information, including each abductee’s name, place of birth, age, place of abduction, and date of abduction. There were also lists of abductees by region (e.g., Seoul) and these divide the abductees into three categories.

According to the lists, 73,613 were drafted into the North Korean Army or youth army by force, 16,240 volunteered for the North Korean Army, and 36,472 were abducted for other reasons.

Lee Mi-il said that Ambassador Muccio mentioned that these lists would be the official lists of the Korean government, although new names could be added in the future when found.”


Number of Korean War Abductees

82,959
(The 1952 statistical yearbook of Korea)
▼
126,325
(Lists given to US Ambassador Muccio)

Persons drafted into the North Korean Army by force: 73,613
Volunteers for the North Korean Army: 16,240
Persons abducted for other reasons: 36,472


The following is an interview with Lee Mi-il, KWAFU President.

Q. Where did you find this document?
A. We found it in the Foreign Policy Reference Library in Gwanghwamun, which is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The information is on page 95 of Volume 12 of the Inter-Korean Relations Sourcebook, published by the National Institute of Korean History.

Q. Does it have the names of all the abductees?
A. It just says that the list was made. It doesn’t give the actual list. But now we are going to find it.”

Q. What is the response of the government?
A. Today we’ve got a call from the Ministry. They asked us to give them the document. Shouldn’t the government have been the first to find such a document? They shouldn’t be asking a private organization to provide the information.


◆ John J. Muccio. (picture): In 1948 John Muccio was appointed by the US president as the US’s top representative in Korea and played an important role in the establishment of the government of the Republic of Korea. In 1949, when President Syngman Rhee took office, Muccio became US Ambassador to Korea, and held this position until 1952. He was born in Italy, but was naturalized as a US citizen in 1921. He served as Vice-Consul in Hong Kong in 1926 and worked in China for many years.